Beloved Italian actor dies

Beloved Italian actor dies

Dancing with Ingrid Bergman in a Rome restaurant in 1956

One of Italy's best-loved comic actors, Alberto Sordi, has died of bronchitis at the age of 82.

He was renowned at home for poking fun at Italy's virtues and vices in more than 150 films in a career spanning more than 50 years.

Abroad he was best known in films directed by Federico Fellini, including The White Sheikh (1952) and I Vitelloni (1953) in which he played one of the title's immature loafers, the weak and effeminate Alberto.

"Sordi helped us understand post-World War II Italy while making us smile," said Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani.

Sordi began his career dubbing Laurel and Hardy into Italian and went on to become a standup comedian before achieving stardom on the screen.

Among his most famous films were the classic An American in Rome (1954), in which he satirised Italy's growing passion for things American, Il Conte Max (1957), and Monicelli's The Great War 1959, often regarded as one of the best Italian comedies.

Roman accent

In 1961, he starred with David Niven in the World War II comedy The Best of Enemies and featured in another hugely popular comedy I Complessi (Complexes) in 1965.

"All my films are based on very serious and dramatic subjects, taken from real-life stories," he told the Milan daily Corriere della Sera in a 1987 interview.

He was born in Rome in June 1920, the son of a teacher and a musician, and grew up in a working class neighbourhood.

He was later kicked out of Milan's dramatic arts academy because of his heavy Roman accent, which became his trademark.

He was a beloved figure in his home city, and was made honorary mayor of the city for a day in 1999 to celebrate his 80th birthday.

He died in his flat in Rome on Monday night after six month battle against cancer. He was not married.